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report please contact skiftx@skift.com.skift.com Cendyn.com
THE HOTEL INDUSTRY’S
AUTOMATED FUTURE:
A FRAMEWORK FOR AI
WITH A HUMAN TOUCH

2.
The Hotel Industry’s Automated Future: A Framework for AI with a Human Touch SKIFT REPORT 2016 3
Executive Summary
The Complete Automation of Customer
Acquisition and Retention
Introduction
The Ideal Customer Retention Ecosystem
Setting The Data In Motion
Using Data To Manage The Situation
Slicing And Dicing The Data
What Are Key Data Points For Action
Discoveries In the Data
Balancing The Outreach
The Ideal Customer Acquisition Ecosystem
Changing Touchpoints On Site
Keeping Guests Loyal
Optimizing The Big Picture
Test But Verify
Insights and Strategies
Executive Letter
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT SKIFT
Skift is a travel intelligence company that offers news, data,
and services to professionals in travel and professional
travelers, to help them make smart decisions about travel.
Skift is the business of travel.
Visit skift.com for more.
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3.
The Hotel Industry’s Automated Future: A Framework for AI with a Human Touch SKIFT REPORT 2016 4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Complete Automation of Customer Acquisition and Retention
Data has shifted the foundation of the hotel industry. Managers can now segment
guest profiles to infinite degrees, creating a comprehensive picture of who’s staying
at their properties. Managers can also track guest habits, interests, preferences and
any unrecognized revenue opportunities or paths to stronger brand loyalty –– it’s all
in the data.
The question isn’t just how to make that data work – it’s how to make that data
work automatically. We can slice and dice it all we want but if hotels aren’t building
a lifecycle that continuously augments sales and operations, there’s little point in
having all the information.
Luckily we have artificial intelligence.
“The winning hotel companies will be the ones that make artificial intelligence
the technical foundation for improving acquisition, streamlining operations and
boosting overall profitable revenue,” says Cendyn Chief Sales and Marketing Officer
Tim Sullivan “No more guessing a guest’s specific needs. Now hotels anticipate them
and deploy automated outreach.”
We previously thought of computers as very elegant calculators but now they’ve
become consultants. Algorithms analyze. Algorithms learn. Algorithms advise.
Provide artificial intelligence engines enough information and they can distill
complicated patterns like weather or trade economics into actionable insights,
predictions that would take humans months to calculate.
Understanding a guest’s preferences and buying patterns is not unlike predicting a
stock price. Artificial intelligence engines not only unlock the future with past data,
but create feedback loops so those improvements always build on themselves.
No more courting attention with shotgun-approach emails, ads and commercials.
Marketers are shifting from a pattern of interruption to weaving offers and
touchpoints into the guest’s life on and off property.
“Making better decisions with AI is going to be the future,” says Mark Bagley, Senior
Demand Generation Manager at AMResorts. “You don’t need to have four data
scientists in a closet somewhere doing this work.”

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The Hotel Industry’s Automated Future: A Framework for AI with a Human Touch SKIFT REPORT 2016 19
ABOUT SKIFT
Skift is a business information company focused on travel intelligence and offers
news, data, and services to professionals in travel and professional travelers, to help
them make smart decisions about travel.
Founded in 2012 by media entrepreneur Rafat Ali, Skift is based in New York City and
backed by Lerer Ventures, Advancit Capital and other marquee media-tech investors.
Visit skift.com for more.
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